Leo steps forward, his arm around me now, shoulders squared like a shield.
“A very transparent one,” he says coolly. “They’re not going to get away with this. I swear it.”
I cling to him, not because I’m weak—but because I’ve never felt stronger than I do in this moment. Standing in the wreckage, with truth on my side and Leo by my side.
But deep down, I know—this war is far from over.
Kannon barrels through the crowd, shoving some lacrosse guy out of the way.
“Jade!” he calls, reaching my side and immediately slipping his arm around my back. His face is flushed, furious, breathless. “What the hell is going on?”
Before I can answer, Tristan and Xavier materialize like shadows, stepping in close—one behind me, the other to my right—forming a wall of muscle and expensive suits. Mindy is in asian dragon mode her sequined dress glittering like the fury in her eyes as she starts swearing in Mandarin. The word “bitch” and “sluts” though was dropped in perfect English.
A circle.
My circle.
A protective ring no one dares breach.
Not even the parents screaming for blood.
“Enough!” a woman shrieks. “She needs to be removed—NOW!”
“Security! Get her out!”
“She planned this! Those poor girls?—”
“Arrest her!”
The word hits me like a slap.
Arrest.
Arrestme?
My throat closes. Something ugly claws up my chest. And suddenly it’s all too much—the lights, the slime, the accusations, the way Vivian’s crocodile tears smear through green gunk, the way Rosalie is sobbing so loudly she can barely breathe.
Another night ruined.
Another night someone tries to turn me into a villain.
Another night I’m the one they want to drag away.
My hands start to shake.
I try to breathe but my lungs won’t work. Everything feels like it’s getting smaller, tighter, like the whole world is squeezing me to see if I break.
Leo steps in front of me, his body pinning mine to his chest.
His voice drops into that lethal calm he inherited from a long line of powerful people.
“Not. One. Word.”
The entire ballroom stills.
He doesn’t look at me—he looks atthem—like he’s ready to burn the place down.
“I’ve already called our attorneys,” he says, voice sharp enough to cut glass. “And PR. Any false public accusation from this point forward will be treated as defamation.”
